PSJA North blanks Nikki Rowe in 31-5A clash

McALLEN — The PSJA North Raiders (15-10-1, 7-2) were operating on all cylinders as they blanked the Nikki Rowe Warriors (6-13, 3-6) in a District 31-5A matchup on Friday. The win marks the team’s fourth straight district win as they are in the hunt for the top spot in a competitive district.

PSJA North is currently in a second place tie with the Sharyland Rattlers, while Pioneer sits in first place.

It took a while to get the ball rolling for the Raiders as they were stagnant on the offensive end of things in the first couple of innings.

However, defensively, PSJA North was keen on not allowing any runs, especially behind the powerhouse performance from pitcher Raelyn Mancias.

Mancias struck out eight batters as she faced 24 of them in seven innings. To adorn the statline, she threw a no-hitter against the Warriors.

The squad had a great third inning as they were able to put up four runs to give themselves some breathing room. Then, at the top of the fourth, Natalie Hernandez hit a sacrifice popfly to get Layla Garza in for the score to make it 5-0.

Near the fifth, that’s when the Raiders started to really wake up. As Vanessa Palacios was walked, Mancias then showed her offensive prowess with a double to center field. Afterward, Kaylee Fonseca then did her job and cleaned up with an RBI double to make it 7-0.

At the top of the sixth, Mancias and Fonseca did their thing as they accumulated hits and RBIs to make the game further out of reach at 9-0. The Raiders earned another run at the top of the seventh.

Head Coach Albert “Brett” Esparza said that despite the commanding win, he said he would’ve liked the team to have a stronger opening.

“We wish we would have played a little bit cleaner early on,” Esparza said. “I feel like we started too slow. We’ve got great defense ... we just got to get things going earlier for us on the road.”

Esparza said that there are still some “growing pains” with the young team that he has, despite the ups and downs of the season.

“We started out rocking, we played some really good tournament teams, and took our lumps,” he said. “But overall, we’re better than we were a month ago.”

PSJA North continued their streak against the PSJA Southwest Javelinas as they won 11-0. As for the Warriors, they had themselves a shootout against the McAllen Memorial Mustangs (3-17, 1-9) but pulled the win, 18-16.